Bwana Mkubwa PF member of parliament Dr Jonas Chanda says the Ndola City Council is denying the people of Bwana Mkubwa constituency the much-needed development following the delayed disbursement of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

In a statement, Dr Chanda lamented the continued delays by the Council to disburse the CDF for Bwana Mkubwa in Ndola despite the Ministry of Finance having already released the funds.

He disclosed that the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Local Government released the full CDF amounts to Bwana Mkubwa constituency for 2017 and 2018 totalling K3 million, but monies have still not been disbursed.

“We received the 2017 CDF full amount of K1.4 million in November, 2017. One year and two months later, not a single ngwee of the K1.4 million has been disbursed and not a single development project has taken off! In addition, government in December, 2018, gave us another K1.6 million as 2018 CDF. So, right now, the Council is sitting on K3 million of CDF for Bwana Mkubwa constituency,” Dr. Chanda explained, adding that the Minister of Local Government Vincent Mwale and his Permanent Secretary Amos Malupenga approved the CDF projects almost a year ago.

“It is disappointing that Ndola City Council has not disbursed any funds due to bureaucratic processes and red tape.”

According to the statement, Dr Chanda stated that the construction of Kantolomba Clinic and renovation of Jacaranda Police Post, among a range of other construction projects, have all not started.

“Consequently, the construction of Kantolomba Clinic; Mwenye Clinic; Placenta pits for Maternities at Mushili and Kaloko Clinics; new toilets at Kansengu Market in Mushili and renovation of Jacaranda Police Post, as well as all women and youth empowerment programmes have all not started,” Dr Chanda added.

“I also wish to remind Ndola City Council that all accrued bank interests on these unused funds must remain in the Bwana Mkubwa constituency CDF account and should not to be used for any other purpose apart from development projects.”

Dr Chanda expressed concern that not releasing the funds was tantamount to de-campaigning the PF government because people will lose confidence in government.

“I reiterate that Ndola City Council management’s inaction of not releasing funds for implementation of approved CDF projects when money is available is tantamount to de-campaigning the PF government as people will lose confidence in the government thinking that “development promises” are mere cheap political rhetoric,” stated Dr Chanda.

“I also want to thank government for bringing the CDF Bill to Parliament in the just-ended session, which was passed unanimously. The new CDF Act, accompanied by new CDF guidelines, should curtail all bureaucracy and red tape in the implementation of CDF projects with strict timelines for project implementation.”